Fans of Doctor Who know all about the eleventh doctor’s favourite “fish fingers and custard” which IMHO sounds absolutely horrible. Then I found this recipe where the “fish fingers” are not actual fish sticks/fingers (as in compressed pollack or similar fish coated in bread crumbs), but cake made to look like fish fingers.

Here is Sugared Nerd’s Recipe:

ENGLISH CUSTARD

1 vanilla bean pod

1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream

4 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1/3 cup honey or light brown sugar

Split and scrape the vanilla beans out of the pod and put them, along with the pod, into a small saucepan with the cream. Heat until simmering.

Whisk the egg yolks with the cornstarch and sugar until combined. Remove vanilla bean pod from the cream.

As you continue to slowly whisk the egg mixture, add a ladle of the hot cream to the eggs. This is called tempering. Add 2 more ladles of the cream and incorporate, before adding the whole egg mixture back into the saucepan. Continue to heat until the mixture thickens to about the consistency of a pudding. Remove from heat and transfer to a bowl to cool.

Note: My custard got a bit “ice-y” after storing in the fridge, so if that happens to yours, just set it out on the counter 15-30 minutes before you want to serve to defrost a bit for a nice, smooth custard.

“FISH FINGERS”

1 pound cake, cut into 1 inch slices to resemble fish sticks

2 egg whites

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

5 graham crackers, processed into fine crumbs

Butter cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350º F. Mix together the egg whites, cream and cinnamon in a bowl. Put graham cracker crumbs in another bowl. Dip each piece of pound cake in the egg mixture, coat in the graham cracker crumbs, and put on a parchment or silicone mat lined cookie sheet. When the sheet is full, spray with the butter spray, and put in the oven for 10 minutes, flipping once half way through.

Filling:
1 can of refried beans (make the consistency thinner by adding water since it will be too thick if you just take it straight from the can after heating)
shredded lettuce
chopped tomatoes
guacamole
shredded Monterey Jack cheese
Mexican rice
sour cream

In the middle of the shell, put some refried beans, followed by the rice, then the cheese, sour cream, guacamole, lettuce and tomatoes and roll up.

Place the tomatoes and onion in a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Transfer 2 cups of the tomato mixture to a medium saucepan. Stir in the chicken stock, salt, and cumin and bring liquid to a boil over medium heat. (Reserve excess for another use.)

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a heavy Dutch oven over medium to medium-high heat. When the oil is sizzling, add the rice and saute, stirring frequently until lightly toasted and golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the jalapenos and cook until they have softened, about 2 minutes, lowering the heat if necessary. Add garlic and cook for an additional 30 seconds.

Pour the boiling tomato mixture over the rice and stir to combine. Turn heat to low and cook, covered, until liquid has evaporated and rice is done, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and gently stir the rice. Re-cover the pot and allow to rest undisturbed for an additional 10 minutes. Add cilantro and lime juice; fluff gently with a fork. Taste and adjust seasoning if desired. Serve with additional lime wedges. Serves 6-8.

Eggs and hash browns go together like, well, eggs and hash browns! But eating them in a muffin-form makes them even better. I love to top mine with avocado and a drizzle of hot sauce. This is a great recipe to make on a Sunday morning because if you have leftovers, they are the perfect breakfast on-the-go for later in the week.

Technique tip: Squeezing the grated potatoes in a paper towel before baking them will remove excess water and make for a crispier hash brown shell.

Swap option: You can definitely stick to one potato or the other, depending on your preference. I like to add one russet potato to the sweet potatoes because I feel like it creates a crispier hash brown. You can also experiment by adding veggies or cheese before placing the eggs on top.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon butter

1 small onion, finely diced

3 cups sweet potato tater tots (defrosted)

1 cup regular potato tater tots (defrosted)

12 eggs

Cooking spray

Salt and pepper

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.

2. In a medium skillet, melt butter over medium-low heat. Add the onions and sauté for a few minutes. Add the tater tots, season with salt and pepper and sauté for roughly 10 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, break them up while they cook so they resemble hash browns. Set aside.

3. Line a few paper towels in a large colander. Place hash brown mixture into the paper towel. Wrap up the potatoes with the paper towel and squeeze out as much water as you can. Then place in a large bowl.

4. Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray. Take a few tablespoons of the hash brown mixture and place in each cup, using fingers or a rubber spatula to push the potatoes into the bottoms and up the sides of the cup, creating a tight nest. Spray once more with cooking spray.

5. Place hash browns into oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool slightly.

6. Crack one egg into each cup. Season tops with salt and pepper. Place back in oven and cook for another 15 minutes, until whites of eggs have set (you can cook for longer if you prefer a firmer yolk).

Created for The Great Succession Crisis and appearing in the 2nd Edition (recipe was deleted for the Third Edition; both editions are available in paperback), slatkos are a fusion of breakfast pastry with Italian cannolis and filled with approximations of Beinarian kara, kelan, or nanli fruits.

Beinarian Slatkos with Kara, Kelan, or Nanla Filling

Created by Laurel A. Rockefeller; Kristeen Shuga and Alayna Hoglund of “What’s the Occasion” bakery.

Beinarian slatkos are buttery baked pastry filled with fruit fillings popular across Beinan at formal events and sometimes for breakfast. Slatkos made be filled with any number of fruits and/or nuts from across the planet. While kara, kelan, nanla, and other Beinarian trees cannot grow here, their flavors can be closely replicated as demonstrated in this easy recipe. It works best when stainless steel cannoli forms are put in the middle while baking; without the forms, each slatko bakes completely flat, greatly reducing the amount of filling and requiring the scooping out of some of the bread in the middle.

Pastry Puff Shells

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup cold butter, divided

¼ cup ice water

1 ½ teaspoons water

2 tablespoons beaten egg

In a small bowl, combine flour and salt; cut in ¼ cup butter until crumbly. Gradually add water, tossing with a fork until a ball forms. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 12 inch x 6 inch rectangle.

Cut remaining butter into thin slices. Starting at a short side of dough, arrange half of the thin butter slices over two-thirds of rectangle to within ½ inch of edges. Fold unbuttered third of dough over middle third. Fold remaining third over the middle, forming a 6 inch x 4 inch rectangle. Roll dough into a 12 inch x 6 inch rectangle.

Repeat steps of butter layering and dough folding until all the butter is incorporated into the dough, ending with a 6 inch x 4 inch rectangle. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate for 15 minutes. Roll dough into a 12 inch x 6 inch rectangle once more. Fold in half lengthwise and then width-wise. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate for 1 hour.

In a small bowl, combine egg and water. Roll dough into a 12 inch square; cut into four squares. Brush with half of the egg mixture. Place squares onto cookie sheet and grab the two opposite corners and connect them over a stainless steel cannoli form.

Bake at 450° for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool until warm but not burning hot. Gently slide cannoli form out. Cool completely. Fill as directed below.

Substitution: baked shell dough may be substituted with crescent roll or turnover dough located in your local grocery store. Of the “crescent” dough options available in the supermarket, we prefer the new Pillsbury Crescent Recipe Creations Seamless Dough Sheet which is uncut crescent bread dough. To use pre-purchased dough, simply unroll, separate (or cut to size if using the dough sheet), bring the corners together over each cannoli form, seal, bake, and fill. For the flakiest shells, use turnover dough or Grands biscuit dough rolled/pressed out to size.

Fillings:

1 ½ cups berries or chopped fruit

¼ cup sugar (if the fruit is tart or slightly unripe)

3 tablespoons cornstarch diluted in enough COLD water to dissolve it.

Puree with blender or mash thoroughly to a smooth to slightly lumpy consistency. Push through a sieve if you want to remove the seeds. Put puree in a pot on medium heat on the stovetop; add sugar and starch liquid; stir constantly. Bring to a boil until well thickened. Cool completely. This will become very thick and tastes very fresh.

Once cooled, place some filling into either pastry bag or a sandwich bag. Cut hole into bag and squeeze slightly into pastry to pipe in the filling. Alternatively, a small spoon can be used to carefully fill each slatko shell. It is easier if you fill half on one side and half on the other as well.

Beinarian fillings:

Kara fruit filling

¾ cup blackberries (approximately 1 6 oz. container)

¾ cup blueberries (just under ½ of a standard pint container)

Kelan fruit filling

¾ cup blackberries (approximately 1 6 oz. container)

¾ cup lingonberries (approximately ¼ to ⅓ pound)

Nanla fruit filling

1 medium apple, peeled, cored, and chopped into small but not fine chunks

When I was studying at the University of Nebraska there was one IT restaurant in town that was so popular you usually had to wait a very long time to get in. It was called Spaghetti Works and it seriously had the best pasta and best pasta sauces I’ve ever tasted in my life — and an all you can eat salad bar with most meals that made sure you were getting a very healthy lunch or dinner.

In recent years Spaghetti Works fell out of favour in Lincoln (though on my last and final visit to Nebraska the one in the Old Market of Omaha was still going strong) and the Lincoln location closed. But its “beer and cheese” pasta sauce is/was still to die for.

I am so happy then to find a recipe for it and am sharing it now with you. Bon Appetit!